Attitude Toward Interpersonal Peer Violence Scale

Abstract

The Attitude Toward Interpersonal Peer Violence scale (ATIPV) is a 14-item, self-report instrument designed to quantify the attitudinal orientation of adolescents concerning interpersonal peer violence. It specifically measures responses to physical fighting (hitting and pushing), distinguishing these from simple verbal arguments. The scale utilizes a 4-point Likert scale format to capture respondents’ opinions and feelings. The ATIPV is dual-purpose: serving as a critical screening mechanism to identify youth at elevated risk for perpetrating or participating in violence, and providing an effective metric for evaluating the success and impact of anti-violence and conflict resolution interventions.

Keywords

Attitude Toward Interpersonal Peer Violence, ATIPV, Peer Violence, Adolescent Aggression, Conflict Resolution, Delinquency, Antisocial Behavior, Violence Prevention, School Screening.

Authors

Houston Community Demonstration Project, Slaby RG.

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Purpose

The primary function of the ATIPV scale is multifaceted, encompassing clinical screening, risk assessment, and program evaluation. Its core utility lies in systematically identifying middle school students who harbor attitudes that explicitly endorse or accept the use of violence as a legitimate means for resolving interpersonal disputes. By quantifying these explicit attitudes toward physical violence, verbal aggression, and relational aggression, the scale provides a robust measure of a student’s predisposition for engaging in harmful peer interactions.

A secondary, yet crucial, purpose is the assessment of preventative anti-violence interventions. Researchers and practitioners employ the ATIPV both pre- and post-intervention to measure shifts in attitudes toward violence. This longitudinal measurement allows for the effective evaluation of educational programs designed to foster non-violent conflict resolution skills among youth populations. The scale specifically targets the acceptability of violent behaviors such as hitting, pushing, and making threats, providing granular data on attitudinal change.

Construct

The ATIPV is designed to quantify a fundamental psychological construct related to the justification and acceptance of aggressive and violent behaviors within the context of peer relationships. It delves into the cognitive frameworks and affective responses that determine whether an adolescent is predisposed toward violent reactivity or the utilization of non-violent coping mechanisms.

The instrument operationalizes this construct across two distinct, yet related, dimensions:

• Violent/Passive Attitude Orientation: This dimension assesses the degree to which an individual believes physical fighting is necessary for maintaining personal status, self-defense, or avoiding social ostracization (e.g., viewing avoidance as “cowardly”). Conversely, it also measures a general orientation toward peace and the deliberate avoidance of physical conflict.
• Conflict Resolution Knowledge and Skill: This dimension evaluates the perceived competence and readiness to employ constructive, non-violent strategies for managing anger, navigating interpersonal disputes, and successfully circumventing physical confrontations. Higher scores on this dimension reflect greater self-perceived ability and inclination toward effective conflict resolution.

Validity

Specific detailed information concerning the establishment of validity for the Attitude Toward Interpersonal Peer Violence scale is not readily available in the foundational source materials. This includes documentation regarding crucial measures such as construct validity, criterion validity, or predictive validity, which are essential for determining how accurately the scale measures the intended psychological construct and predicts future behavior. Further research documentation may be required to fully substantiate the scale’s psychometric properties in this area.

Reliability

The original source content does not provide specific reliability coefficients for the ATIPV scale. Key indicators of reliability, such as internal consistency measures (e.g., Cronbach’s alpha) or stability metrics (e.g., test-retest reliability), were not detailed. Practitioners using this scale should seek supplementary documentation that establishes the consistency and stability of the scores across different administrations and samples.

Factor Analysis

Details regarding the underlying factor structure or dimensionality of the ATIPV, typically derived from factor analysis, were not present in the provided source content. Understanding the factor structure is critical for confirming whether the 14 items align empirically with the hypothesized two dimensions: Violent/Passive Orientation and Conflict Resolution Knowledge and Skill.

Instrument

Test Type: Self-Report Questionnaire

Format: The instrument comprises 14 distinct items, employing a 4-point Likert scale response structure. Responses are scored from 1 (“strongly disagree”) to 4 (“strongly agree”).

Language Available: English (based on the primary source materials).

Population Group: Adolescents and youth.

Age Group: Primarily utilized with middle school students, typically corresponding to grades 6 through 8.

Population Details: The scale was developed and historically applied within community demonstration projects focused on the prevention of violence, specifically targeting urban youth populations deemed at risk.

Test Methodology: The ATIPV is administered as a pencil-and-paper self-report measure. The scoring system assigns point values as follows:

• Disagree a lot = 1
• Disagree a little = 2
• Agree a little = 3
• Agree a lot = 4

Scoring requires attention to reverse coded items (specifically items 1, 3, 5, 8, 9, and 12). The overall scale score is calculated by summing the point values for all responses and then dividing by the total number of items answered. Blank items are excluded from the denominator. A higher final mean score (ranging from 1 to 4) indicates greater perceived knowledge and skills in resolving conflicts non-violently, whereas a lower mean score suggests a psychological orientation that is more accepting of or predisposed toward violence.

Keywords

ATIPV, Adolescent Mental Health, Peer Relationships, Aggression Measurement, Non-Violent Conflict Resolution, School Screening Tools, Self-Report Inventory.

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Authors

Author ORCID Identifier: Information not available in source materials.

Affiliation Email addresses: Information not available in source materials.

Correspondence Address: Information not available in source materials.

Permissions & Fee and Test Year

The original documentation indicates that there are no known fees or specific requirements restricting the use of the scale. The foundational work for the ATIPV was established through research conducted by Slaby in 1989, followed by the Houston Community Demonstration Project in 1993.

The instrument itself is publicly accessible and can be located on pages 29-30 of the publication “Measuring Violence-Related Attitudes, Behaviors, and Influences Among Youths: A Compendium of Assessment Tools.” The original PDF compilation can be downloaded here: http://www.cdc.gov/violenceprevention/pdf/YV_Compendium.pdf. An additional resource link is available here: http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED486261.pdf.

Reference’s

• Houston Community Demonstration Project. (1993). Peer Leader Survey. Houston, TX: City of Houston Health and Human Services Department. (Unpublished)
• Slaby RG. An evaluation of a violence prevention program. Health program for urban youth. Newton, MA: Education Development Center, Inc., 1989. (Unpublished)

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Items of the Attitude Toward Interpersonal Peer Violence Scale

IMPORTANT: The following scale items must be preserved in their original language and must not be changed in any way.

Attitude Toward Interpersonal Peer Violence

1. If I walked away from a fight, I’d be a coward (“chicken”).
2. The best way to stop a fight before it starts is to stop the argument (problem) that caused it.
3. Anyone who won’t fight is going to be “picked on” even more.
4. I don’t need to fight because there are other ways to deal with being mad.
5. It’s OK to hit someone who hits you first.
6. If my friends want to go someplace where a fight might happen, I find it easy to say I don’t want to go with them.
7. When actions of others make me angry, I can usually deal with it without getting into a physical fight.
8. If a kid teases me or “disses” me, I usually cannot get them to stop unless I hit them.
9. If a kid at school hits me, it is harder to report them to a teacher or other adult than it is to just hit them back.
10. If I really want to, I can usually talk someone out of trying to fight with me.
11. My family would be mad at me if I got in a fight with another student, no matter what the reason.
12. If a student hits me first, my family would want me to hit them back.
13. I usually can tell when things are bothering me or getting on my nerves.
14. If things are bothering me or getting on my nerves, I do things to relax.